FILE - In this March 17, 2014 file photo, people walk past a company logo at the headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. The Monster Tron T1 headphones sold on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Taobao site are a tempting offer for audiophiles looking for a good price on authentic state-of-the-art hi-fi equipment but the California company, best known for its audio-visual cables, said Monday, May 27, 2014 that 99.5 percent of purported Monster products sold on Alibaba sites are fakes, based on thousands of listings the company's investigators have examined over the years. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is setting up a virtual shop on Main Street USA.

Alibaba, which is set to score the biggest IPO in U.S. history, on Wednesday is opening 11 Main, an online mall of boutique, specialty retailers like Bay Area clothiers Alys Grace, NV Blue and Tasty Ties.

With 11 Main, Alibaba makes its first entry into a U.S. market that has long-established players like Amazon.com and eBay.

But Mike Effle, 11 Main president and general manager, said Alibaba believes it can carve out its own niche.

"These are hand-selected shops and boutiques with a focus on fashion and style, home and outdoors, babies and kids," Effle said. "We wouldn't have created 11 Main if we didn't feel like there was a void in the market."

Alibaba is not well known in the U.S., but is an online commerce powerhouse in its homeland. Alibaba was started in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former English teacher whose net worth is now estimated at $8.4 billion.

Investors in the U.S. are eagerly awaiting the company's Wall Street debut. The initial public offering might raise as much as $20 billion, which would make it the largest U.S. IPO ever and give it a market valuation of $200 billion.

Alibaba's move to attract U.S. customers to its boutique site could be viewed as a risky one. But 11 Main is starting out slowly - for now, it's in beta, meaning it's in test mode. And shoppers can join by invitation only.

Effle declined to comment on the Alibaba IPO, saying that 11 Main is an independently run subsidiary based in San Mateo, with development offices in Chico.

"We're focused in on making sure 11 Main fits in the eyes of consumers in the U.S.," Effle said.

During a site preview Tuesday, Effle showed a home page that included tabs marked fashion, home, jewelry, baby, collecting, tech, sporting goods, toys and entertainment.

There are photos from participating merchants that can also be shared on Pinterest. And there is a section for videos that tell the stories behind the businesses offering wares on 11 Main.

Effle said 11 Main has produced videos about the shop owners "who have amazing stories to tell."

Unlike the more crowded TMall, a successful corporate cousin website in China, the 11 Main design is "open and clean with lots of white space," Effle said. "There's nothing on the page that flashes or blinks or otherwise is meant to be attention grabbing."

Even the name is supposed to evoke a stroll down Main Street, or at least downtown Burlingame, where upscale women's clothier Alys Grace has a shop.

Initially, 11 Main will have more than 1,000 shops that were picked from thousands of applicants. The site steered away from big, mass-market retailers to focus on small businesses offering U.S.-made, sustainable goods.

One is Objects with Purpose, a Los Angeles-area startup that makes a product called Wearable Candles, which can be used first to light a room, then as a coconut-butter skin moisturizer, perfume and warm massage oil.

In an interview, company owner Ianthe Mauro said she gets much of her business from shops that carry her candles in Northern and Central California, but hopes 11 Main gives her the exposure to ignite her small company's revenues.

"As a small, independent entrepreneur-mom-business owner, I have zero budget for public relations," Mauro said. "This is really exciting for me."